PureInsight | January 19, 2004
[PureInsight.org] During truth clarification, we deal with people in many different professions. We, as individuals, are also working in various different industries. Oftentimes, we have heard fellow practitioners say, "Let's be professional. We have to do this professionally."
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "professionalism" is the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person. We need to be aware of whom we are clarifying truth to and their notions due to their background in different professions. However, we need to keep in mind that "professionalism" is a collection of human notions, criteria people use to define their expectations of others and judge others. To ordinary people, an important reason to "be professional" is to feel good about oneself. Ordinary people do all types of things under the mask of "professionalism." In order to be "professional," the ordinary members of the press and other media agencies try to get quotes from both sides to balance their reports. I think truly "professional" media are committed to reporting truth. They won't quote people unless their remarks have substance and they are telling the truth.
In many projects "being professional" is not the most important thing. Values and morality certainly go beyond any profession. I have found in myself that, when I was disturbed by others' work because it was not done "professionally," I was actually looking for reasons to feel superior to others. I was after personal achievement, rather than looking at a bigger picture of Fa-rectification. The heart is what matters most.
Among all professions, the legal industry seems to be the most daunting for fellow practitioners. I have heard many fellow practitioners asking various questions because they were not sure that they could clarify the truth to legal professionals. Not having legal knowledge deters them. When we clarified the truth to law professors, we have found it easy to overcome the fear once we realize our historic responsibilities and the meaning of life. In fact, we were lords and kings before. But in this life, it has been arranged that most of us are people without much fame or fortune. Some of us are not professionals in this human world. Our confidence comes from compassion, not from professional knowledge or other things. Being intimated by human fame or professions is not our own trait. It is part of the old evil arrangement.
The concept of hierarchy is closely related to "professionalism." In the ordinary world, professionals and non-professionals seem to have distinctively different social statuses. Acknowledging and acting upon this hierarchy is expected conduct in "professionalism." But should Dafa practitioners follow it? I don't think so. There are two aspects of this to consider. For one, we should treat all "VIP's" equally, no matter how high their rankings are or how famous they are. They are essentially lives to save. Therefore, when working with non-practitioner VIP's or professionals, we should treat them in the same way, rather than preferring one over the other, because one is more famous or influential. Secondly, we should treat all fellow practitioners equally with compassion. All we are doing is fact-clarification, although it takes different forms. We cannot and should not rely on any fellow practitioners in any profession, whether business or legal, to do fact-clarification in their industry. It is everyone's responsibility. Relying too much on a few practitioners with special skills is not going to help anyone's Fa-rectification cultivation.
Traditional Chinese culture is a semi-divine culture. In the old times, every profession in China emphasized elevating one's realm. Therefore, almost every profession was a means of cultivation, in one way or another. For example, traditional painting, art craftsmanship, making tea and so on. There was no such concept as today's "professionalism." This is clearly an acquired notion that we would be better without.
